Various types of wire reel carriers are known in the prior art. A typical example of such a wire reel carrier is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,764,031, which issued to E. Parsen on Oct. 9, 1973. This patent discloses a trailer which may be easily converted to carry various sized cable wheels or small construction equipment such as a trencher. The assembly includes an axle portion with a pair of telescopic rear portions, a telescopic tongue portion for pulling the axle portion and a pair of channel-shaped rails for transporting the equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 3,856,230, which issued to E. Zimmer on Dec. 24, 1974, discloses a wire dispensing hand dolly which includes a pair of spaced frame rails having a series of aligned notches for supporting a plurality of spaced wire roll supporting rods. U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,187, which issued to G. Snyder on Aug. 16, 1977 discloses an apparatus for unreeling wire from cartons or spools from a vehicle mounted support stand that attaches to the bumper of the vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 4,190,211, which issued to H. Janzen on Feb. 26, 1980, discloses a device for mounting a reel of wire on a truck bed which includes a pair of brackets mountable at opposite sides of the bed and adapted to support an elongated shaft at spaced locations therealong. A friction braking assembly includes a rotatable friction element adapted to be keyed to a reel rotatably supported on the shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 4,339,096, which issued to A. May on Jul. 13, 1982, discloses a cable laying apparatus for use with--agricultural tractors equipped with a rear three-point hydraulically operated hitch. The device includes a supporting frame for lifting, carrying and unwinding heavy spools of barbed wire for laying fences. U.S. Pat. No. 4,437,622, which issued to M. Heider on Mar. 20, 1984, discloses a wire roller which includes a wire receiving spool rotatably supported on a frame adapted for securement on a vehicle. An electric motor supported on the frame includes drive means for rotating the spool. The frame may be secured on a vehicle by a clamping assembly including a pair of co-acting clamp jaws. A torque applicator is operatively associated with one clamp jaw for pivotally moving the clamp jaws clamping engagement on a vehicle bumper. U.S. Pat. No. 4,946,113, which issued to C. Riffle on Aug. 7, 1990, discloses a wire reel carrier for use in stringing barbed wire for fencing, designed for attachment to the cargo rack of an all terrain vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,568,900, issued Oct. 29, 1996 to H. Conroy discloses a draw bar supported apparatus for dispensing strand wire or mesh wire. U.S. Pat. No. 5,584,444 issued to J. Farmer on Dec. 17, 1996, discloses a mounted device for rewinding electric fencing.
Electric fences have been used for many years as barriers for retaining or excluding animals usually in agricultural settings. Typically, electric fences are comprised of a continuous length of electric wire which is mounted via electrical insulators to posts secured in the ground so that the wire encircles a defined area. The electric wire is connected to a low voltage power source, which may be stepped down from line voltage or a battery, and a control box which periodically causes the wire to be energized with electrical current. When the electrical wire is so energized, any animal coming into contact with the energized wire will serve to ground the wire and will thereby receive a painful, although not dangerous shock. After being shocked once or twice, the animals will avoid coming into contact with the wire. Thus, the energized wire becomes a barrier for the animals.
Intensive grazing is a type of grazing practice which is gaining widespread acceptance in the United States. This practice involves frequently moving cattle from one small parcel of property to another. The cattle eat the grass contained in the parcel until there is no grass left and then the herd must be moved to a fresh parcel. Rather than erect a series of traditional crossfences consisting of barbed wire, farmers often prefer to employ more flexible means to retain the herd within a parcel. Electric fences are one preferred option.
One problem associated with use of electric fences is the need to occasionally move the fence. This entails rewinding the electric wire onto some type of spool. Manually holding the spool and rewinding the wire onto the spool by hand is difficult for several reasons. First, as wire is wound onto the spool, the spool becomes progressively heavier and more difficult to hold in a person's hands. Second, with the hands occupied in holding the spool and winding the wire thereon, it is difficult to wind the wire smoothly and tightly around the spool. If the wire is not wound smoothly and tightly onto the spool. the spool will not be able to hold all of the length of wire which was originally contained on the spool. Also, if the wire is not rewound onto the spool in a smooth fashion, the wire can tangle and will be difficult to remove from the spool when needed to build another fence, which will be nearly a contemporaneous event when intensive grazing is practiced. While each of the above described fencing apparatus has been available for some time it is clear, merely from the continued development of the art, that no completely satisfactory apparatus has heretofore been developed that will facilitate rapid deployment and retrieval of electric fences. My apparatus does so.